(no subject)

[yagathai]

People have this strange idea that customer service is something that anyone can do. I guess in a sense anyone can do it, in the same way that anyone can dig a ditch. But of course not everyone can dig a ditch, let alone dig a ditch, and not everyone can do a customer service job -- let alone do it well. It's a skill, and a talent, and rarer than many people think.

Nevertheless, just like most anyone can grasp the basics of ditch-digging (hold this end of shovel, insert other end of shovel into earth, move shovelful of earth, repeat), just about everyone should be able to grasp the first principle of customer service:

DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

Now believe me I understand how much fun being an asshole can be. Being an asshole is one of my primary forms of recreation, in fact. And sometimes people make it very hard for you not to be an asshole to them. Nevertheless, if you're in a customer service position, if people are giving you money in exchange for your goods or services, the rule remains. No matter how hard it is, you must always remember:

DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

I just don't get why some people can't figure that one out. Because as I see it, there are exactly three acceptable answers to Nick's question:

1) "I'm very sorry. I wish I could help, but our policies prevent me from doing that, and here's why" ... followed by a reasonable explanation for why his very simple request could not be accommodated.

2) "Let me check on that for you and get back to you when I've found an answer", followed by a subsequent communication featuring either answer 1 or answer 3.

3) "Sure thing, Nick. Here you go." Because, as Nick points out, it's the work of maybe a couple of minutes to fulfil his request, and that's if you're out of coffee.

You see this kind of thing a lot everywhere, but for some reasons it seems especially concentrated when it comes to the people that run fan conventions. Not all the people of course, and not all the conventions, but often enough that it's a noticeable trend -- and frankly, there's no excuse. Even if the people running a convention don't possess the necessary "don't be an asshole" skillset, and even if their services are indispensable because only their brobdingnagian brains can perform such feats of combinatorics that even our primitive electric calculating machines cannot compare, those people should not be anywhere near the paying customers. All they need to do is find someone that has that valuable non-asshole skillset and put that person between them and the public.

Everyone in our community would get along so much better if they did that.

Comments

[babyraven.livejournal.com]

I hardly need to give YOU, of all people, my spiel on proper customer care.

Therefore I'll just obnoxiously point out your malformed sentence: "Being an asshole of my primary forms of recreation, in fact."

And then perhaps I'll stab you with a pen some more, even though THIS time you're not asking for it, because it was kind of fun, to be honest.

[saltedpin.livejournal.com]

Yes, this exactly. You're doing a job in exchange for money. It's a pretty simple equation, actually.

I also hate people who undervalue customer service as a skill. It's actually fairly diffult to get it right.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

The person responding to Nick was, in fact, a volunteer.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

What's your point? They're still representing WFC to a paying customer. In fact, it makes even less sense to put a volunteer that lacks customer service skills on email-answering duty.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see, you were responding to saltedpin. That makes more sense. Nevertheless, the greater point still holds true.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

I agree. It's good to get volunteers who're not assholes, especially when taking money. But quality control in fandom for this sort of job is notoriously low. It's hard enough to get anyone to sign up.

[saltedpin.livejournal.com]

I didn't even look at the link. I'm talking in general.

DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[regina-of-york.livejournal.com]

I suggest we get this on t-shirts before next year's Worldcon. ;-)

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[eefster.livejournal.com]

I was thinking buttons or ribbons, but T-shirts works well.


So how long do we wait before bringing up obsolete test scores??

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Now.

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[eefster.livejournal.com]

I got a 710 on my French SAT II, so *obviously* I should have been on the Montréal Worldcon. I mean, really, that is obviously a vital skill point.

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[regina-of-york.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, buttons or ribbons would be even better. Cheaper, and can be handed out to assholes as needed. *thumbs up*

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[eefster.livejournal.com]

Or a stamp. I have visions of just randomly stamping it on peoples' foreheads. Probably as they're leaning in to get a good look at someone's ... "badge" or "ribbons", which is why they'd need the "don't be an asshole" stamp in the first place.

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

You have excellent ribbons, Eef. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[regina-of-york.livejournal.com]

I like where you're going with this!

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

I like what you have to say and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[misunderstruck.livejournal.com]

Would the stamp be printed backwards so the stampee could get an easily readable reminder every time he or she looked in a mirror?

Re: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE.

[eefster.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought of that, but it is an excellent refinement of the basic idea.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Shopsin's restaurant begs to differ.

[2muchexposition.livejournal.com]

Funny, I love paying Shopsin's to be indifferent-to-rude to me. But I guess it's sort of the allure there.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

See, WFC just has a branding problem. If the billed themselves as the "Rude" convention... no, wait. That's most conventions.

[petitbout.livejournal.com]

I am a stickler for good customer service. And I will sometime write the heads of companies (recently Steve Jobs) if I think it's lacking.

But that's the difference. Your friend NM did two potentially useless things - or asshat things. Tomayto Tomahto.

1) sent an e-mail back to the exact same person

2) took his complaint to the public

For 1) he should have take a moment of his day and called to speak to that e-mail person, and likely their supervisor.

See the above. I think it may become more usual, now that Comcast's strategy of having an Internet Guy (one who trolls the internet looking for people complaining about Comcast and OFFERING customer service to correct the problem) but for now taking it to the internet is really just a sotherestickoutyourtongue sort of move.

1) he should have take a moment of his day and called to speak to that e-mail person, and likely the

[regina-of-york.livejournal.com]

Sorry to nitpick, but in this case I do not think NM could have picked up a phone and called anyone. WFC seems to do everything via mail or email, and I don't see any contact numbers available (which is understandable considering the nature of the group).

It Only Takes A Minute or Two

[petitbout.livejournal.com]

The phone number associated with the WFC address is
614-442-1010 and 614-442-1986

Or he could e-mail Joni Brill Dashoff directly, I believe her address is (can be located by a simple search - but I shouldn't really have to do all your work for you, you won't feel that sense of accomplishment if I do - but I found it fairly quickly) or someone higher in the food chain might be located at WFC2010@contextsf.org.

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

You're not at all familiar with the situation, or the people involved. As a matter of fact, the email you post below was the email I sent my first message to. It's a generic contact address. The person who responded to my first email with the blow-off claim that it's impossible to have a real receipt was the co-chair of the convention. There is no superior, except for the WF board.

I went public for two reasons:

a. after discussing it with someone close to the board who noted that the board would not seek to correct the co-chairs on anything short of fraud, and after being given a specific example of the board shrugging when Jay Lake approached them with a similar issue months before in dealing with the other co-chair, I realized that there wasn't anyone upstairs to talk to. Indeed, the problem was ultimately solved by people below the chair-spouse. Incidentally, Lake is not attending WFC for the first time in a decade due to his treatment at the hands of the WFC co-chair. If not for my dayjob mandating my attendance at the convention, my normal follow-up would have been to contact Paypal and cancel the charge.

b. as a public announcement. WFC is an industry convention—the majority of attendees would either want their membership receipt either as a write-off or as a reimbursement deal with their employer. The receipts being given out by WFC via their PayPal account would not stand up to an audit without at least some extra paperwork—pretty much the last thing anyone wants to prepare. As my blog is widely read, people could take the information and decide on a snail mail membership (the canceled check made payable to "World Fantasy 2010" would be an effective receipt of sorts) or to make some other arrangement.

As far my actions being "potentially useless", my problem was solved in under an hour. It's pretty tough to confuse "potentially useless" with "actually useful", but I couldn't help but noticed that you managed it handily.